Here are today’s solar images taken from Al Sadeem Observatory, March 3, 2021.
The sky was mostly clear with intermittent light to moderate breeze which provided good transparency and seeing at the time these images were taken.Â
The two small bipolar active regions that emerged at the Sun’s southern hemisphere (Modified Zurich/Mcintosh sunspot configuration: Bxo/beta) have been designated as AR2806 and AR2807 respectively by space weather agencies over the past 24 hours. Few weak solar flare activities, including a C1.2 flare from AR2807, were recorded. The latest sunspot number (based on visual count and Wolf number calculation) is 33.
Other noteworthy solar features observed were some stable mound prominences at the extreme northeastern and southwestern limbs, as well as the enhanced plages associated with the developing sunspot groups, as distinctively captured in H-alpha imagery.
Space weather agencies* forecast solar activity to be at low levels with chances of solar flares of up to B-class (possibly up to C-class) intensity mainly from the two upper-mentioned sunspot groups. Close monitoring is being conducted by numerous space weather agencies for any significant development.
Equipment used are Skywatcher 120mm refractor telescope with Baader filter and unmodified Canon EOS 1D Mark IV DSLR camera for visible imagery. For H-alpha imagery, the equipment used are Lunt 60mm H-alpha solar telescope, and QHYCCD 290III mono camera; all mounted on Skywatcher EQ6 pro mount Pre-processing of visible solar images was performed in PIPP, stacking in Autostakkert, slight wavelet adjustments in Registax 6, and post-processing in Adobe Photoshop CC.
*TECHNICAL REPORTS COURTESY OF SOLAR INFLUENCE DATA CENTER (SIDC), NOAA-SPACE WEATHER PREDICTION CENTER (NOAA-SWPC)
Weather Data (4:40 PM – 5:05 PM, March 3, 2021, from NCM Al Wathba Station):
Average Temperature: 34.85°C
Average Humidity: 19%
Average Wind Speed and Direction: 11.35 kph from north-norwesterly direction
Average Cloud Cover: 5%
Average Air Pressure: 1003.65 hPa
Average Solar Radiation: 252.0 W/m^2
